Facebook is removing 687 pages linked to India’s main opposition party just days before voting begins in the country’s general election. The company said it was pulling the pages because of “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” mainly made up of individuals using fake accounts to join groups in order to post content that was critical of their political opponents. “While the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities, our review found that it was connected to individuals associated with an INC (Indian National Congress) IT Cell,” said Nathaniel Gleicher, head of cybersecurity policy at the social-media company. Gleicher stressed that the accounts were removed because of their behavior, not the content of the posts. Facebook rarely takes action against political parties in India, Reuters says, butit faced increasing pressure from the Indian government to ensure the platform is not abused ahead of the vote. India is home to more than 300 million Facebook users, the biggest user base in the world.
